Take away the contests of the martyrs, and you have taken away their crowns.
Interpretation
This quote implies that the struggles and sacrifices of individuals give meaning to their achievements and honor.
Saint Ambrose emphasizes the importance of the trials and challenges faced by martyrs in defining their legacy and significance. Without these contests or struggles, their ultimate sacrifices would lack value, and the honor they receive as martyrs would diminish. This highlights a broader philosophical theme: achievements are often intertwined with the hardships faced, giving depth and meaning to the recognition received.
In practice
In a speech honoring veterans, one might invoke this quote to illustrate the significance of their sacrifices.
A good youth ought to have a fear of God, to be subject to his parents, to give honor to his elders, to preserve his purity; he ought not to despise humility, but should love forbearance and modesty. All these are an ornament to youthful years.
Where a man's heart is, there is his treasure also.
The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church.
A kindness received should be returned with a freer hand.
It is ingrained in all living creatures, first of all, to preserve their own safety, to guard against what is harmful, to strive for what is advantageous.
The best way to use the gold of the Redeemer is for the redemption of those in peril.
The first problem of the media is posed by what does not get translated, or even published in the dominant political languages.
The sickness of the individual is ultimately caused by and sustained by the sickness of his civilization
Listen, O drop, give yourself up without regret, and in exchange gain the Ocean. Listen, O drop, bestow upon yourself this honor, and in the arms of the Sea be secure. Who indeed should be so fortunate? An Ocean wooing a drop! In God's name, in God's name, sell and buy at once! Give a drop, and take this Sea full of pearls.
What the government wants is something they never had before. They want total awareness. The question is, is that something we should be allowing?
It may be -- I hope it is -- redemption to guess and perhaps perceive that the universe, the hell which we see for all its beauty, vastness, majesty, is only part of a whole which is quite unimaginable.
Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.